The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) attack on the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Deir al-Balah, Central Gaza Strip. This is part of IOF’s surging aggression within the genocide committed against the Palestinians.
In a serious development, at around 11:30 on Wednesday, 19 March 2025, IOF targeted UNOPS staff members in Deir al-Balah. As a result, one namely Marin Marinov was killed and 5 others were wounded, all of them foreigners. Amongst them, 3 worked in support of the UN Mine Action Service Occupied Palestinian Territory programme and 2 worked in support of the UN 2720 Mechanism for Gaza.
According to field documentation by PCHR’s researchers, the office was targeted the night before when an Israeli shell fell on the building’s roof. The UN team isolated the shell before the building being targeted again yesterday morning.
According to a statement issued by UNOPS, the explosion was not through any action removing unexploded ordinance at the location. “What we do know is that an explosive ordnance was dropped or fired at the infrastructure and detonated inside the building. We don’t know at this stage what type it was (airdrop weapons, artillery, rocket”1 as the UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said. He added, “What’s happening in Gaza is unconscionable. I am shocked and devastated by this tragic news. I saw the absolute dedication of our team in Gaza last month.” 2 Meanwhile, the UN spokesperson has emphasized it was hit in strikes.3
This attack is part of the ongoing Israeli crimes against civilian facilities, particularly the UN, in blatant violation of the international humanitarian law rules, which prohibit targeting of civilian objects and international and humanitarian facilities.
This is not the first time IOF target UN and humanitarian organizations’ offices and staffs as on 01 April 2024, a vehicle for the World Central Kitchen was targeted in central Gaza Strip, killing at the time 7 of its staff members, including 6 internationals. 4
This bombing occurred while IOF continued to launch tens of airstrikes and deadly attacks on houses, shelters and tents housing displaced families. As a result, tens were killed, including entire families, mostly civilians.
Yesterday at dawn IOF resumed its widescale and deadly attacks on the Gaza Strip, including mass killings that have targeted hundreds of civilians, amongst them women and children, and displacement orders. This escalation indicates Israel’s insistence on expanding its crime of genocide, a crime it has not actually ceased since 19 January 2025, the date of ceasefire.
Since Tuesday dawn until Wednesday evening, IOF’s attacks have claimed the lives of 470 Palestinians, including tens of women and children, and wounded hundreds more while tens remain trapped under the rubble with ambulance and rescue teams unable to retrieve them.
Israel’s decision to resume its widescale military aggression on the Gaza Strip comes after 17 days of closing Gaza’s crossings and blocking the entry of goods and aid as part of Israel’s policy to use starvation as a weapon of war, following its unliteral renunciation of the ceasefire agreement.
PCHR emphasizes that IOF’s perpetuation in conducting such heinous attacks is a direct result of the impunity Israel enjoys, and the international community’s double standards when dealing with Israel by turning a blind eye to the most serious crime of all, the crime of genocide.
In light of the above, PCHR calls on the international community not to act beyond issuing statements and condemnations of the Israeli military attacks, which have not spared the humanitarian staff members and civilians. Instead, immediate practical measures should be taken to compel Israel, as an occupying power, to cease fire, and ensure accountability for the crime of genocide Israel is committing in the Gaza Strip.
